Spring in the form of stacked sheet metal plates

ABSTRACT

A spring in the form of stacked ribbed and flat sheet metal plates. Ribbed plates having curved ribs produced by etching on both faces with ribs on one face of the plate being staggered in relation to the ribs on the other face of the plate.

United States Patent [191 Leko 1 May 20, 1975 [54] SPRING IN THE FORM OFSTACKED 2,713,482 7/1955 Stapleton 267/162 SHEET METAL PLATES [76]Inventor: Toma D. Leko, PO. Box 1569, FOREIGN PATENTS R APPLICAHONSBoston, Mass 02 4 790,781 2/1958 United Kingdom 151/38 [22] Filed: May14, 1973 Primary Examiner-Even C. Blunk [21] Appl' 3310l3 AssistantExaminerJefferey V. Nase [30] Foreign Application Priority Data May 24,1972 Germany 2225131 [57] ABSTRACT [52 U.S. Cl 267/162; 151/38 A Springin the f of Stacked ribbed and flat Sheet [5]] Int. Cl F16f 3/02 metalplates Ribbed plates having curved i [58] Fleld of Search 267/162, 161;151/38 duced by etching on both faces with ribs on one face of the platebeing staggered in relation to the ribs on [56] References Cited1,963,535 6/1934 Trotter the other face of the plate.

1 Claim, 6 Drawing Figures Pj-JENTEB HAY 2 0 I975 SHEET 1 BF 2 FIGBSPRING IN THE FORM OF STACKED SHEET METAL PLATES This invention relatesto an improvement in the design of springs made out of stacked sheetmetal plates and the method of making the same. Such springs have manyand varied applications in industry, particularly in those cases whichrequire a strong spring fitted in a very limited space. One such case isthe securing of the bolts to prevent loosening by maintaining thetension. This is achieved by using one or more stacked resilient ribbedmetal plates as described in the following application. The main objectof the invention is to provide a spring structure made of metal plateswith curved ribs produced easily by known etching techniques.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consistssubstantially of the devices illustrated in the accompanying drawingstogether with such modifications thereof as come within the scope of theinvention as defined in the appended claim.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sheet metal platewhich forms one of the elements of the device;

FIG. 2 is a view in cross section of a stack of elements such as thatillustrated in FIG. 1, showing the relative position of the elementswhen no load is applied;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the flexing of the individualelements of the stack under load;

FIG. 4 shows the relative position of a spring metal plate when used forsecuring the bolts against loosening;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing a simple method of stackingthe metal plates;

FIG. 6 shows another form of stacking the elements with means formaintaining the plates in stacked relatron.

The stacked spring of my invention consists of stacking ribbed springmetal plates 1 shown in FIG. 1 with the flat spring metal plates 2 inbetween, as illustrated in FIG. 2.

In FIG. 1 the plate 1 is provided with a number of curved ribs 3 on bothfaces of the plate whose ribs are in such spaced relationship to oneanother so as to leave between the adjacent ribs a certain unsupportedplate portion, and that the stack may be compressed under the conditionsof load. In other words, the ribs on either face of the plate 1 arestaggered in respect to each other. The curved ribs 3 are producedeasily by known etching techniques, and may be made as deep or asshallow as desired, depending upon the load conditions for which thedevice is intended. The curved ribs 3 could extend parallely or withvariable distance among them or they could be completely omitted at someplaces to achieve the desired spring action.

In FIG. 2 the ribbed spring metal plates 1 are assembled into a stackwith the flat spring metal plates 2 in between them. By this arrangementthe flat portions of the plates in between the ribs will be flexed sothat under the load the stack will look in cross section substantiallythe way it is illustrated in FIG. 3.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, the reference numeral 4 indicates diagrammaticallyload members which are resting on the top and the bottom plate of thestack. These load members may be anything at all that needs to beresiliently supported.

In FIG. 4, I have shown one of the possible applications of my device.The ribbed spring metal plate 5 is assembled in a fastening structure tomaintain the torque and prevent the loosening of the nut. The thicknessof the ribbed spring metal plate is so designed that it will be properlyguided by the screw-thread of the fasteners. This is achieved byselecting the thickness of the spring metal plate approximately equal tothe pitch of the screw thread.

In FIG. 5 is shown one way of stacking the plates. The device consistsof a plate 6 provided with ribs 7 and a flat spring metal plate 8 toachieve a higher resiliency of the fastened structure.

FIG. 6 shows another method of assembling the plates into a stack. Thestack is placed in a guide chamber or a receptacle 9 which serves tokeep the plates 10 and 11 in proper stacked relation and prevent theirrelative movement. Receptacle 9 is guided at the bore by the screwthread and has the edge 12 whose height approximately equals the pitchof the screw thread.

I claim as my invention:

1. A spring in the form of stacked sheet metal plates comprising anumber of resilient ribbed metal plates provided with ribs, said ribsextending curvilinearly across both faces of the said ribbed metalplates, said ribs on one face being in staggered relation to the ribs onthe opposite face, and flat metal plates having no ribs on either facethereof, said ribbed metal plates being stacked with flat metal platesin between them, and means for maintaining said plates in stackedrelation.

1. A spring in the form of stacked sheet metal plates comprising anumber of resilient ribbed metal plates provided with ribs, said ribsextending curvilinearly across both faces of the said ribbed metalplates, said ribs on one face being in staggered relation to the ribs onthe opposite face, and flat metal plates having no ribs on either facethereof, said ribbed metal plates being stacked with flat metal platesin between them, and means for maintaining said plates in stackedrelation.